Tough pill for Marlins fans to swallow Thursday. Not only is native son Gio Gonzalez not coming to the Marlins, he’s headed to the division rival Washington Nationals. The Marlins, as did many other teams, coveted Gonzalez. At 26, he’s already one of the game’s top left-handed starters.

Asked during the Winter Meetings to characterize the starting pitching trade market, President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest used the words “tough” and “painful.” He might have been understating things. According to source in regular contact with the Marlins front office, the Athletics demanded either Mike Stanton or Logan Morrison in any deal for Gio Gonzalez. And that was just one component of the package. It’s probably fair to speculate the Athletics requested at least two more top prospects, including Christian Yelich and/or Marcell Ozuna.

The Nationals gave up right-handers Brad Peacock and A.J. Cole, catcher Derek Norris and left-hander Milone. Baseball America rated Peacock and Cole the organization’s No. 3 and 4 prospects, respectively, this offseason. Norris was No. 9 and Milone No. 13. Peacock and Milone are major league ready arms. Norris spent last season at Double-A and Cole is farthest away, having spent 2011 at low-Class A.

The question for the Marlins is where do they go from here? Matt Garza? Gavin Floyd? Wade Davis? Jeff Niemann? Carlos Zambrano? Do they fly to Puerto Rico on hands and knees, and beg Javier Vazquez to return? All the Marlins have done is replace Vazquez with Mark Buehrle, which you can argue is a wash, and acquire Wade LeBlanc for depth. I’m not convinced adding any of the aforementioned pitchers makes the Marlins a playoff team.

Maybe the way to go is starting the season with Josh Johnson, Buehrle, Anibal Sanchez, Ricky Nolasco and Chris Volstad. Bottom line, Marlins are unlikely to make a strong postseason push if Johnson doesn’t give them 30-plus starts. Let’s see him get through a healthy first half, and if the rotation remains a need the Marlins can try to land an arm at the trade deadline. At that point they’ll also have a much better sense of how close this group is to contending.

Comments (12 Comments)

Oh come on, they accepted the #3 and #4 prospects from the Nats, but wanted a proven major leaguer from us? And not just any proven player, they wanted either Mike Stanton or Logan Morrison AND more on top of that? What, was Beane trippin’ balls or something?

Its really quite simple. The Marlins didn’t have the minor league prospects Beane desired so he would only pull the trigger on a deal if he got Stanton or Morrison. You do understand that the other team has to like the prospects they’re getting in return too, right? Marlins farm system is pretty weak right now.

The Fake CT is back I see. At least he is not making bad remarks here.

Cubs not trading Garza, who is under their control for a few more years. Unless some team offers them five or six top prospects.

As for Zambrano, the trade talk is hot according to Bruce Levine, that the Marlins and Cubs are looking at a major package that will include Marlon Byrd.

Carlos Beltran signs with the Cardinals. He is no Pujols.

I do believe if the Marlins want to compete with the Phillies, Braves and now the Nationals, they need to sign Prince Fielder. If Boras get Prince to sign with the Nationals, that N.L. East Division will be tough.

If the Marlins could get Gio Gonzalez and would have cost them Morrison, I would have made that trade.

Morrison hit 247 last year, had to be demoted due to lack of production, and just had knee surgery. Gonzalez had a 312 ERA and won 16 games for a bad team. Those are the facts. Based on that, Morrison should have been traded in a second. Our front office keeps envisioning our players are better than they are and making decisions based on hope. Gonzalez is going to win another 16 games this season, one or two against the Marlins, and Morrison is going to bat 247 again. Well at least that new stadium will be available to rent out in October for monster truck rallies.

This team has had it’s bumps (Expos/Nationals) over the past 35-40 years… Every team has it’s chance at the crown, it’s just the nature of the game. Pending everyone stays healthy on the Nationals ballclub, there aren’t many clubs out there with the same rotation now. Essentially, the NL East is shaping up to be a dogfight between two teams. Miami and Washington. Phillies are aging, Mets aren’t improving and the Braves are at a stand-still. However, the Miami team did make a splash early… This trade enables the Nats to grab the crown of the NL East for the next 5+ years. If they add a CF’er and promote Harper this year this team will really be overpowering to say the least. Nonetheless, I see Miami as possible wild card candidates… Nats will see you in the postseason.

Logan Morrison has only played two years and is just 24 years old. In his first partial season he hit .283, and followed it up with a year where he was injured, but still hit 23 home runs in 123 games which equates to about 29 home runs in a full season. He had some problems, but those are going to be well behind him, and hitting 23 homers in an off year is quite impressive. He’s going to be a super star, especially if he finally ends up at first base where he’s an excellent fielder. NO way you trade Logan Morrison! They’ll find another pitcher, either this year or next, but Logan stays…for a long time.